life as a Strange Mamma

And then it was Thursday

So all week I’ve had this and that on my mind but didn’t want to post it because it would have been a sentence or two. Maybe a paragraph. I’ve got to get it out of my head that posts have to be a certain length. I got all inspired by C. Beth’s blog the other day and actually put both buttons on my sidebar. And then proceeded to not blog for 3 days. So now I’ve got a mosh of stuff….

Okay, I’ve actually forgotten most of what was in my head now because I’m so frustrated with the UK run around health system. It’s ridiculously long and convoluted and I honestly don’t want to spell it all out again. Although I could, and it would be very witty in a sarcastic way, but I don’t want to have it ruin my day and if I continue to dwell on the thoughtlessinconsiderate manner in which this was handled I’ll just ramp myself up for the entire day. Because this, like everything else is in my Father’s hands and He knows the timetable better than those policy-loving pencil-pushing non-communicative presumptive I do. Have you guessed this is about my appointments with the fertility specialist? Yeah. The appointment I was supposed to have on March 30th, can’t even be properly re-booked until sometime after May 18th. It took me a month to get the first one. AND getting the appointment isn’t even the hard part. The procedure that was performed in my doctor’s office back in Chicago has a waiting list here. And no one can tell me how long that waiting list is. I don’t see that as a good sign. But what do I know, right? Nothing. Father’s timetable. Not mine. Got it. Sort of. Moving on.

I remember some of what I was going to say now. Originally I was going to start off with a lovely little sentence like: The joy has lasted. And it has. Even with this morning’s setback. I do feel like crying. But I don’t think I’m going to. There are far worse things going on that have brought tears lately. Yesterday we learned that a dear friend’s 5-month old grandbaby had just died. Still waiting to hear how it happened and very sick at heart that it was possibly not medical. I couldn’t think of it yesterday without being nauseated. My heart aches for this family. So while there is petty disappointment for me, there is tragedy for others and miracles for still others. And yet, the joy has lasted. My only conclusion is that it comes from that peace that defies understanding and I am oh, so grateful.

The other thing that I wanted to do was clear up a little bit of misunderstanding over my introduction to Monday Meals. This is what happens when you edit your blog too much. You don’t realize that in the taking out of certain things, if you don’t put them back in another form people don’t actually know that you’ve said them. Or thought them. Whatever, they don’t know it if you don’t post it. First of all, I want to thank you all for the comments left. (And Liz, I just remembered looking over those comments that you tagged me. I’m totally on that tomorrow!) I just want to explain a little further where we’re at.

We did a lot of baby-led weaning while we were still back in Chicago. I made most of his food then. When we were moving around so much during December and January it wasn’t really feasible to be making our own puree so we did more jars of food at that time. Once we settled in here in Oxford, he had enough teeth that he was mostly just eating what we ate only chopped up into smaller pieces. (Our boxes arriving put a damper on that and I took a couple weeks off and used pre-made toddler food but now we’re back to real food) So that’s where we are now. He essentially eats what we eat and with the imminence of his molars I imagine there’s not much he won’t be able to handle within the next couple months.

My issue is this. I don’t eat a lot of variety. This is surprising to me more than any of you, because I really like food. However, for the most part, I would prefer other people make that food for me. If I didn’t have the Rocket Scientist to cook for I would eat the same thing all. the. time. I do like cooking. I would love to have a huge kitchen and spend hours creating something fabulous. I just couldn’t be bothered half the time. (And I currently have a kitchen the size of a broom closet.) However, I understand that that’s not always healthy, especially for growing toddlers. And, I want to give Doodle the opportunity to develop a wider range of tastes than mine. For instance, I will probably get him some cottage cheese to see if he likes it. I will try very hard not to throw up while I’m feeding it to him.

I have quite a few cookbooks and I know there’s nutrition information and even some recipes I think in Dr. Sears Babybook (which I have just found again in my unpacking!) but I thought it might be fun to try some of your ideas and I thought it might be fun for you to see how someone else’s child gets it all in their hair enjoys it. So Monday’s Meal, or snack, will be cottage cheese. I really will try to be okay with that.